A Review: Door County’s Islands

Door County’s Islands

By Paul and Frances Burton (with a chapter by Bill Olson)

Stonehill Publishing, 2009

The string of very good Burton books remains unbroken. It continues intact with Door County’s Islands, the fifth contribution to the Door County bookshelf from this prolific husband and wife writing team. Paul and Frances Burton of Ephraim were joined in this effort by Bill Olson of Washington Island. Olson is a Washington Island resident and is the owner of Jackson Harbor Press; in this volume he is responsible for the chapter on his home island.

This book bears the same positive qualities that all the books from Stonehill Publishing have exhibited. To my way of thinking, the hallmark of the Burtons’ writing (and that of Olson’s too in this effort) is the extensive research undertaken before pen is put to paper. It is obvious that the authors consulted the appropriate and pertinent secondary and primary sources in preparing this general treatment of the 27 islands surrounding the Door Peninsula. Because of the solid research, the resulting text is neither speculative nor suspect gossip. Rather it presents solid information about each of the book’s subjects.

In general, each chapter treats larger single islands, such as Cana Island, Rock Island, Chambers Island, and Washington Island. Other chapters deal with related island groups such as the Strawberry chain and Plum and Pilot Island. The amount of information presented for each island appears to be commensurate with its size, importance, and in turn, suitability for human habitation.

Two broad topics are covered in discussing each island. For the smaller ones, the natural habitat receives most attention, albeit not very extensive; there is just not that much information available to draw upon, nor would field study yield that much more. As was indicated by the authors, several of the smaller islands were only suited for the birds – both literally and figuratively. For the larger islands, on the other hand, the authors discuss not only the natural environment, but they devote far more attention to the historical evolution of the cultural landscapes, both past and present. These discussions are substantive. All three authors are careful not to take these discussions beyond what their evidence will allow. I applaud that. All too often, writers want to make mountains out of molehills.

Another quality of the Burtons’ books is their readability. This book is also very easy to read as their writing style is not pedantic or presumptuous. Free flowing and fast moving, reading their books is pleasurable and informative. Although Door County’s Islands is a fast read, one should not assume that this indicates lack of substance, for that is certainly not the case.

Meaningful and useful graphics are always commonplace in books published by Stonehill. In this book, instructive and well-executed maps of every island are present. They aid significantly in understanding relative locations and specific attributes of the islands. Graphs and diagrams also enhance the text. Of special note in this regard are the very numerous photographs throughout. Historic photographs illustrate the evolution and development of cultural landscapes. An awful lot of time-consuming research must have gone into locating and identifying the photos used. To illustrate the contemporary scene many aerial photographs are included, shot by Paul Burton who is also an accomplished photographer. These aid immensely in illustrating points being made in the text. Moreover the detailed captions provide additional insight into what is being shown. The reader is not left to interpret these meaningful photos – it is done by the authors, as it should be.

All in all, this book represents a masterful job in presenting a broad but meaningful overview of Door County’s islands. Although other works may occasionally present more detail about some of the individual islands, no single book comes close to matching the breadth of coverage. There are no major negatives here. One would have to look long and hard to find any, and to do that would be nothing short of nit-picking, and that is not fair.

Read and enjoy! I am sure if you do read it, you will enjoy it, and you will learn a great deal in the process.